Perceived development opportunities and reward satisfaction as antecedents of nurses’ job withdrawal intentions

Abstract

Retention of nurses has received considerable attention in recent years due to the ageing population and the shortage of nurses. However, most of the studies have concentrated on either older nurses’ early retirement or younger nurses’ turnover intentions. This study analyses the antecedents of different forms of job withdrawal intentions with special reference to perceived development opportunities and reward satisfaction. A quantitative survey was conducted among nurses in one Finnish University hospital. A total of 510 nurses completed the questionnaire, representing a 54.4% response rate. The results demonstrated that job withdrawal intentions were relatively common and age-dependent among respondents. Good work ability and high reward satisfaction decreased the odds for both occupational turnover and early retirement intentions. Development opportunities perceived as good decreased the odds for organisational turnover intentions, but slightly increased the odds for early retirement intentions. In sum, improving nurses’ work ability and reward satisfaction could be used to prevent different forms of job withdrawal intentions, whereas age-sensitivity is required when it comes to providing development opportunities.